Learning to drive a car is one of the best perks of being a teenager. With the majority of legal driving age limits around the world set somewhere between 16 and 18 years of age, even places like Alberta, Canada, and South Dakota, U.S.A., where licenses are issued to 14-year-old teenagers with adult supervision, have been criticized for starting kids out behind the wheel a little too early.

But just how soon is too soon? That’s the question floating around Chinese social media at the moment as two Chinese parents are facing major backlash for allowing their daughter, who only appears to be 4-5 years old, to drive their family car. (Warning: video auto-plays, so check your speakers now.)

The SPCA has taught me that dogs can technically drive. But that doesn’t mean we should be handing them the keys and making them designated driver for Katy’s hen do. I mean, besides the fact they don’t even have thumbs, lovably distractable dogs are likely to veer off the road in pursuit of squirrels, other dogs’ butts, a weird shadow and pretty much anything they can put in their mouths. They’re clearly a hazard to other drivers.

And that’s why the police in Hanoi are looking for a man filmed speeding down the road at night letting his dog steer the bike.

Our Japanese-language reporter Go recently returned from a trip to the U.S. While there, he hunted for aliens and sampled the localcuisine, but mostly what he did was drive.

While Japan is filled with winding mountain passes that make for enjoyable drives, the wide-open American road has an appeal all its own. After days of barreling down the highways of the southwest, Go came back to Japan with these 50 experiences he had driving in the U.S.

If you’re a driver, chances are at some point you’ve been behind a slow-moving truck or semi-trailer, trying to overtake but unable to see if there is traffic coming in the opposite direction. This can be frustrating, but it can also be deadly if you pull around at the wrong moment.

South Korean electronics manufacturer Samsung may have found a solution to this problem with their prototype Safety Truck, however. It uses a wireless camera and outdoor screens to give drivers following the trucks a view around them.

We’ve got a new candidate for the “Worst Father of the Year” award. And trust us–he’s got a very good chance at winning that title. What responsible parent would make his seven-year-old son drive him home after getting drunk and passing out??

There’s a particular type of male who when in possession of a vehicle strives to make it the most outstanding machine on the road for better or for worse. This generally involves painting obnoxiously loud colors onto their cars, which have been fitted with even more obnoxiously loud speakers. The result is a visual and audible horror show only appreciated by those with a similar mindset.

And then we have Harpeet Devi of India who has reached new heights of annoying car customization. He had his transmission customized to have four speeds in reverse and only one speed forward so he can drive backwards everywhere he goes.

While the Hakone Turnpike is usually enjoyed by slow-driving families catching a glimpse of the natural beauty of the area’s mountainous landscape, some Japanese drifting enthusiasts last month turned a portion of the public toll road into a white-knuckle race to the top.

Shutting down the two-lane road, the drivers zoomed through the windy (and thankfully empty) roads, reaching speeds that would land normal citizens a pretty hefty fine. It may not be the first time a high-performance car has been seen on Japanese roads, but it’s pretty amazing that the Ministry of Transportation would approve this flashy display of speed, horsepower and roaring engines.

There is perhaps no greater feeling of anger and frustration than getting cut off on an expressway. To have your pleasant cruising speed shattered by some jerk-off who can’t tilt their head an extra inch or position their mirrors properly is usually an unforgivable act in the driving world.

However, this one truck driver in particular has earned the acclaim of everyone who watched the harrowing video of it cutting off a car as they both drove along at high speeds on a rainy highway. After watching the video we’re pretty sure you’ll understand why.

From Paris to New York to Tokyo, a city is nothing without its street signs. Leave a place for too long and the special little signifiers we take for granted everyday will make a beeline for our hearts and strike nostalgia in even the most hardened city dweller when we see them again.

If you’ve walked the streets, been on a road trip or taken a license test in Japan, you’ll love this special collection of earrings from the land of the rising sun.

Depending on how you commute, you might have very strong feelings about cyclists. If you’re a regular cyclist, you might think that bicycles are the greatest thing since sliced bread and wish all those obnoxious, dangerous drivers would just get off the road. On the other hand, if you’re a motorist, you might think that bikes are a constant annoyance and cyclists are all obnoxious, dangerous jerks who should just get off the road. Meanwhile, everyone getting packed into a Tokyo subway is just wondering who–or what–is getting shoved in their butt crack.

But regardless of how you feel about cyclists or drivers, I think we can all agree that nothing is more important that safety on the road–as this heart-stopping video proves in a matter of seconds.

For those who woke up in Saitama Prefecture this morning, you might have noticed something particularly pleasant in the air, like the entire region just got a little happier. That’s because on 22 May the Prefectural Police announced that they would be giving refunds and apologies to 2,400 people who were given tickets and demerit points because of an improperly conducted eight-year crackdown on driving violations.

One of the golden rules of the road revolves around the right-of-way. Dig up memories from high school driver’s ed, and you’ll recall that the manual says something like, “the right-of-way is something you give, not take.” In Japan, a term often used to instill defensive-driving skills is yuzuri-ai no seishin, which can be translated as “the spirit of compromise/yielding”.

But we all know people who think that’s crap.

So today, we’re introducing you to a video of a vehicular standoff in Taiwan that is fast racking up hits online. There are no guns or flaming crashes here; rather, the scene is a quiet, humorous one, the like of which probably plays out across the globe on a daily basis.

The times they are a changing again. Back in the day, young men would dream of getting a stylish ride in the hopes of raising their status and ultimately win the affections of the women around them.

However, now it seems that youngsters in Japan are no longer interested in paying large sums of money to strap themselves into large decorated pieces of metal and move around at high speeds with hundreds of other random strangers also piloting lethal projectiles.